Zero thermal input membrane distillation, a zero-waste and sustainable solution for freshwater shortage

Baghbanzadeh, Mohammadali; Rana, Dipak; Lan, Christopher Q.; Matsuura, Takeshi

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.10.142

Cited by 41 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…Since MD can operate at low feed temperatures, it has been successfully coupled with a range of renewable energy sources [16,17,18,19]. MD has been experimentally and numerically investigated for high-salinity applications, mostly using small-scale systems.…”

Section: Context: Desalination Up To High Salinitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy efficiency of membrane distillation up to high salinity: Evaluating critical system size and optimal membrane thickness

et al. 2018

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This study presents a comprehensive analytical framework to design efficient single-stage membrane distillation (MD) systems for the desalination of feed streams up to high salinity. MD performance is quantified in terms of energy efficiency (represented as a gained output ratio, or GOR) and vapor flux, both of which together affect the specific cost of pure water production. Irrespective of the feed salinity, permeate or conductive gap MD (P/CGMD) performs better than direct contact MD (DCMD) when the heat transfer resistance of the gap (in P/CGMD) is lower than that of the external heat exchanger in DCMD. Air gap MD's (AGMD) better performance relative to the other configurations at high salinity and large system area can be explained in terms of its thicker 'effective membrane', which includes the air-gap region. CGMD and DCMD employing a thick membrane are also resilient to high salinity, similar to AGMD, while not being susceptible to the gap flooding that can harm AGMD's performance. A method is described to simultaneously determine the cost-optimal membrane thickness and system size as a function of the ratio of specific costs of heat energy and module area. At low salinity and small system size, GOR rises and flux declines with an increase in membrane area. For salty feed solutions, there exists a critical system size beyond which GOR also begins to decline. Since both GOR and flux are lower, no economic rationale favors operation above this critical size, irrespective of the costs of thermal energy and system area. A closed-form analytical expression for this critical system area is derived as a function of the feed salinity and two dimensionless ratios of heat transfer resistances within the MD module.Keywords: membrane distillation, high salinity, energy efficiency, system size, optimal membrane thickness * Corresponding author: lienhard@mit.

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Section: Context: Desalination Up To High Salinitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy efficiency of membrane distillation up to high salinity: Evaluating critical system size and optimal membrane thickness

et al. 2018

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“…Their investigation showed that the AGMD configuration is capable of producing desalinated water with zero liquid discharged even at a low hot-fluid supply temperature of 25 • C, which makes the system feasible to be coupled with low-temperature heat sources such as a solar collector. Baghbanzadeh et al [117] investigated a zero thermal energy input membrane distillation (ZTIMD) process which was also a zero-waste system. The required thermal driving force for the process was provided by using the warm seawater of the surface as the feed and the cold water at the bottom of the sea as the coolant.…”

Section: Application Of MDmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems by Novel Integrated Membrane Distillation (MD)

et al. 2019

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The scarcity of freshwater has been recognized as one of the main challenges people must overcome in the 21st century. The adoption of an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and energy-efficient membrane distillation (MD) process can mitigate the pollution caused by industrial and domestic wastes. MD is a thermally driven process based on vapor–liquid equilibrium, in which the separation process takes place throughout a microporous hydrophobic membrane. The present paper offers a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art MD technology covering the MD applications in wastewater treatment. In addition, the important and sophisticated recent advances in MD technology from the perspectives of membrane characteristics and preparation, membrane configurations, membrane wetting, fouling, and renewable heat sources have been presented and discussed.

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“…MD can operate at low temperatures with low grade heat sources such as solar thermal, geothermal, waste heat and even thermal gradients in the sea where the feed and permeate temperatures may be as low as 30°C and 10°C, respectively [6]. Many reports have suggested that when cheap sources of thermal energy are utilised, MD can be cost competitive with or even cheaper than reverse osmosis (RO) for sea water desalination, particularly on a small scale [6][7][8]. Although a lack of robust data on industrial MD implementation has resulted in large variances (nearly 4 orders of magnitude) in the values reported for produced water cost [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of carbon nanomaterials in membrane distillation membranes: a review

Leaper

Abdel‐Karim

Gorgojo

2021

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

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Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermal-based separation technique with the potential to treat a wide range of water types for various applications and industries. Certain challenges remain however, which prevent it from becoming commercially widespread including moderate permeate flux, decline in separation performance over time due to pore wetting and high thermal energy requirements. Nevertheless, its attractive characteristics such as high rejection (ca. 100%) of nonvolatile species, its ability to treat highly saline solutions under low operating pressures (typically atmospheric) as well as its ability to operate at low temperatures, enabling waste-heat integration, continue to drive research interests globally. Of particular interest is the class of carbon-based nanomaterials which includes graphene and carbon nanotubes, whose wide range of properties have been exploited in an attempt to overcome the technical challenges that MD faces. These low dimensional materials exhibit properties such as high specific surface area, high strength, tuneable hydrophobicity, enhanced vapour transport, high thermal and electrical conductivity and others. Their use in MD has resulted in improved membrane performance characteristics like increased permeability and reduced fouling propensity. They have also enabled novel membrane capabilities such as in-situ fouling detection and localised heat generation. In this review we provide a brief introduction to MD and describe key membrane characteristics and fabrication methods. We then give an account of the various uses of carbon nanomaterials for MD applications, focussing on polymeric membrane systems. Future research directions based on the findings are also suggested.

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Zero thermal input membrane distillation, a zero-waste and sustainable solution for freshwater shortage

Cited by 41 publications

References 96 publications

Energy efficiency of membrane distillation up to high salinity: Evaluating critical system size and optimal membrane thickness

Energy efficiency of membrane distillation up to high salinity: Evaluating critical system size and optimal membrane thickness

Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems by Novel Integrated Membrane Distillation (MD)

The use of carbon nanomaterials in membrane distillation membranes: a review

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